Turkey launched an illegal air operation against northern and eastern Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on Saturday night. According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, the operation was a response to "attacks by the KCK/PKK/YPG and other terrorist organizations" on the country's population and armed forces. There were increasing signs that the Turkish government could use the bombing in Istanbul, last week, with six fatalities and more than 80 injured to built a casus belli (despite being clear it was a fabricate attack) for attacking the autonomous regions in north-eastern Syria (AANES) and northern Iraq again. Even before the investigations had really started, Ankara had already presented an alleged sequence of events and pointed the finger at Kurdish organizations such as the PKK and YPG. Both vehemently denied the accusation and condemned the attack on civilians.

The airstrikes by the Turkish army, which began late Saturday evening, hit Kobanê first and within a few minutes spread to the entire border strip in north-eastern Syria and then to Asos in the Iraqi-Iranian border area. The cities of Kobanê, Tel Rifat, Dêrik, Zirgan, Dirbesiyê and Girê Spî are the main areas affected by the state terror in Syria. In addition to the Asos Mountains near Silêmanî, the Qandîl region was also bombed in the KRI. There are now reports of fatalities.

As with previous invasions and wars of aggression, Turkey invokes the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations (UN) Charter. Article 51 of the UN founding charter grants all members the “natural right to individual or collective self-defence”. However, a member state may only exercise this right if an “armed attack” occurs or has occurred and the state invoking this right to self-defence has proven that it is correct in referring to Article 51. In addition, the self-defence measures taken must be proportionate in terms of scope, duration and intensity.

Kurdish associations have condemned Turkey's air offensive in north-eastern Syria and northern Iraq and called on their diaspora community to stage urgent protests. The Confederation of Kurdistan Communities in Germany (KON-MED) evaluates the air strikes as an "expression of the genocidal and barbaric nature of a fascist state". In an initial statement, KON-MED warned that the civilian population in the attacked areas would again be affected by expulsion, death and terror, and that flight would once again be the only way for many people to escape the warlike activities of the Turkish state. The fact that the first airstrikes took place on Kobanê, the city where the henchmen of the Islamic State suffered their first but decisive defeat, shows the true intention of Turkey in its actions: " The smashing of all achievements of the Kurdish people.”

KON-MED directed sharp words towards the west. The air operation cannot take place without the support of the EU, US and NATO for Ankara. "Those who remain silent are complicit," the umbrella organization warned, accusing the international community of supporting "war crimes and human rights violations." No combat aircraft can fly there without the consent of the United States in particular, which has air sovereignty over Iraq and northern Syria.

The Kurdish European umbrella organization KCDK-E made a similar statement. In a statement, the organization warns of "massacres of the civilian population" in Rojava, both through Turkey's airstrikes and through its jihadist militias, which have been committing incomprehensible war crimes in the occupied territories for years under Ankara's protective umbrella. "We warned early on that the Istanbul attack would only serve as a pretext to stir up Kurdistan. These warnings have come true. We appeal to the democratic public to show solidarity with the peoples under attack and to defend Kurdistan on the streets.”

Spontaneous actions have been held throughout the night in various European cities.

Today the following actions will be held:

Berlin: 4 p.m., Alexanderplatz
Dresden: 2 p.m., Albertplatz
Frankfurt am Main: 1.30 p.m., main train station
Hall: 2 p.m., Market Square
Leipzig: 2 p.m., Willy-Brandt-Platz
Magdeburg: 2 p.m., main station

These are some of the actions that have taken place throughout the night in Germany.

Düsseldorf: Hauptbahnhof

Darmstadt: Hauptbahnhof

Dortmund: Hauptbahnhof

Hamburg: Hauptbahnhof

Saarbrücken: Hauptbahnhof